Are you upset about Common Core? You should be

At a recent Hilton Head First Monday Republican Club meeting, Dr. Barbara Nielson, South Carolina State Superintendent of Education from 1990–1998, spoke in support of Common Core. During questioning, she was asked about her consulting position with Pearson Education, a company that stands to earn millions with the implementation of Common Core.

She seemed very upset that anyone would even question her integrity or motives for supporting Common Core. As I listened to her response, it seemed to me that parents should be the ones upset about Common Core. They should be upset because Common Core was developed without any parent input. They should be upset with the collusion between big business money, the federal government and academics to develop Common Core in such a surreptitious manner and without state legislative authority. They should be upset that English teachers must spend at least 50 percent of their reading instructional time on informational texts at every grade level.

They should be upset that Common Core reduces opportunities for students to develop critical (analytical) thinking; that Common Core’s middle school writing standards are developmentally inappropriate for average middle school students; that Common Core does not complete the teaching and use of the standard algorithms of arithmetic until grades 5-6; that Common Core defers the study of many Algebra I concepts to grade 9. If you are a parent that has concerns about Common Core, call or write Sen. Grooms or Rep. Patrick and support their legislative efforts to stop Common Core.